the Hannah Kate

Here are the fabrics for my next quilt project. Another dear friend just had her third baby. She has had a lot of input on this quilt, but I still hope she likes it. These fabrics are fun and feminine. I just love doing these for people that I love.

Christmas Salsa

How gorgeous are these colors, right? I am making salsa for Christmas gifts and so I solicited the help of a professional. I had my father-in-law, Anastacio spend the afternoon with us showing me the ropes of how it's really done.
We went grocery shopping together. We got Serrano chilies, habanero chilies, & jalapeno chilies. Also included was garlic, onions, cilantro, lemons, tomatoes, and tomatillos. Goodness, the shopping part was so fun. It was great asking my dad all the questions I wanted to about our ingredients.
Anastacio roasts all his chilies and the red tomatoes before they are used. Peeling the skins was time-consuming. I think I will omit this step the next time. I didn't notice a difference in taste with them roasted although I do love the bits of charred skin peppered through the salsa. We boiled the tomatillos in water until they were remarkably changed in color.
These bad boys were canned for 15 minutes in a lovely water bath. I think I'll do this again for our salsa stock pile. I spent $30 for 12 jars. Down side? You eat a jar a day. Cristian, Carlos and I quite enjoyed salsa verde all day today. Fabulous on my scrambled eggies!!

And the few pointers that I picked up yesterday from my dad are:

1. Always use the round tomatoes. The Roma tomatoes are too sweet and beef steak don't taste well for salsa. The round ones have a sourness to them that is perfect for salsa.
2. Cilantro. I've always wondered if I was suppose to pick off the leaves and then chop. Use all of it. I chopped it all very fine and put it in a bowl to the side. I cleaned all my produce with a food cleaner. There were tiny gnats everywhere in the cilantro. I rinsed/swished it 6x before it all came clean. Disgusting!
3. This salsa is a smooth salsa. It isn't chunky like pico de gallo. We used a blender for all the ingredients. After it was blended smoothly we added additional cilantro and finely chopped onion to give it mild texture.
4. If you are eating the salsa all that day you can add avocado to it. It is so delicious, but needs to be eaten or the avo spoils. Is that ever really an issue though with salsa?
5. Lemon is your friend with salsa. I find especially with the green salsa, lemon just makes it better and better tasting.
6. If you want spicy salsa, turn up the heat with your peppers. You want your salsa to be flavorful with heat, but not so hot that it overpowers the flavors of the other ingredients.
7. Peppers - jalapenos are the mildest, Serrano's are next in heat, habaneros are fire. So jalapeno, Serrano, habaneros. We used all three in both salsas. They are so yummy!

the makenna kate

my dearest friend ever, natalie, finally had a baby girl after three attempts! she is, of course, ridiculously darling that little miss makenna. problem is...well, it's me. the poor child is now a year old. (sigh) good intentions right? but how does that saying go? what is the road to hell paved with? oh yeah, good intentions!
thankfully, natalie is the most forgiving and generous of people. she won't balk at my tardiness. this quilt is actually the first i ever made. shay held my hand (via verizon) through the whole process.
it is a tiny quilt, like a t.v. cozy or something. i love the colors though. i had it quilted in the bright purple color. it turned out very nice. i am so excited to give it to my friends little miracle daughter.

In Honor of this Weekend's Hype...

A friend pointed this out to me. Funny stuff.

Ahh, good times!

A common pose around the Carter home. Trevor giving the "care bear stare", Jen picking her nose, and Shay looking like someone from Kiss.

Testosterone induced idiocy. Trevor is doing his best to mold Tay into a wee little man.

Noel, Jen and Shay on our deck admiring all of dad's flowers. Some things never change.

My dad, the Smurf, on steroids. I dunno what he was doing home with that. What is it, a Hazmat hoodie or surgical gear? Who knows.

The famous "butt chin". Trev has a great one. Carlos, his dad, and Cristian have one too. Shay is making it more pronounced while Trev is giving his butt a pair of legs.

Good times, crazy family.

What!?

So I'm browing through our pictures and I stumble upon this little, hot number. Carlos is the one who loads all the images onto the computer.

Why did he put a self-portrait for the internet universe to view?!

Under Construction

My latest quilting endeavor... we had some friends bestow upon our family a very kind and generous deed. (To be explained later...) So I thought I'd make them a quilt as a sort of thank you gift. It is turning out great, but I always get to doubting myself at this stage in the game. Are the colors too intense for this person? Will they actually use it or display it? Are they going to barf at my color scheme?

Who needs this drama?

Not me.

The $3 Hole

Possibly one of my all-time fave pictures of Cora! Wink, wink my public. Her pending anticipation of the Tooth Fairy visit made her down-right giddy!
The large gap in the face, sure to make family portraits a rethought. Cora worked and worked on getting this bad boy out of her mouth. I told her that those big teeth get BIG BUCKS from the tooth fairy.
And mama didn't lie! She got three whole dollas! Curiously this fairy didn't leave behind any fairy dust. The kids and I are still entertaining possible theories as to why. So far they include 1) maybe it was a mean fairy, 2) maybe it ran out of fairy dust, 3) maybe we got Arwynn's fairy because she doesn't get dust, or 4) maybe Mom and Dad are the tooth fairy. Preposterous! Where does Cristian come up with those curve balls?!

Prew-ett!

Oh goodness me! Look what I found in my bedroom while I was sewing the other day! Perry was playing with her Polly Pockets when Pruett Halloween 2009 showed up. I couldn't resist a family portrait.

David was the Tin Man, Paisley Bear was Dorothy, Kavers was the Lion, and Shay the Scarecrow. Amazing what entertains me right?

Celebrity Brothers

I enjoy watching, every Sunday night, Extreme Home Make-Over. It is a feel good show, people helping people. And I always cry at the end, every time. The kids always look anxiously over at me when I cry. Like I might implode or something. Usually Cora will tear up. It's tradition. I love this show for lots of reasons, but a bonus perk is that Ty Pennington looks so much like my brother Taylor. Neither of these pictures are accurate of Ty or Tay. But they even have the same build and expressions. Taylor IS a lot hairier though. Tay's hair is cut more like Ty's now. Gosh, they even both have the same surfer-grunge style. It.is.weird.and.uncanny.

And then there is my brother Markie. Years ago, ten years ago about, Carlos and I use to watch Fear Factor religiously. Joe Rogan would drive me insane in a good way. He reminded me SO much of Markie. And these aren't good comparison pictures either of the two, but their builds and musculature was so similar. And then to listen to Joe... he was so mean to the contestants in a really funny way and that's how Markie was. He'd always make fun of you. He'd make you laugh at your own expense.

So I say to you...if you want to know my brothers any better watch these shows. Or if you want to be reminded of how cute and darling, okay basically h-o-t, my sibs are than check them out on you tube or something. It'll be a fun little snack for ya.

Throw Down

Okay, so sadly this is a very true story. Even more sadly it didn't involve any of my kids - it involved their mommie.

The kids' school had a nice assembly in honor of Veteran's Day yesterday. Cora was thrilled I was going so I could see her and Mason performing their two songs that they learned.

Perry and I filed into a row of chairs, followed by a friend from church, her son, and Luli. Behind us was another mom with two very young children. I'm sure she was there for older children participating. Next to her.... was the mega-beaver.

This lady was about mid-50. Honestly, I noticed her sour face before the program started but didn't think anything of it. She sat directly behind me. The program started.

So, the two young kids behind me were talkative. And my friend next to me has a rambunctious little boy. Both moms were doing their best to busy their kids and keep them quiet. All through the assembly, or at least the 20 minutes I was there for it, Miss Sour Grapes kept commenting on the noise. And she wasn't subtle - at all. Honestly, about every 90 seconds she'd say something under her breath. (I HATE it when people do this, just politely turn to the mom and ask her to quiet down!) But no, she kept making very rude comments out loud without speaking directly. She even sharply reprimanded my friend's son.

So this goes on. She's saying things like, "I can't believe how disrespectful everyone is being. This is ridiculous, I can't even hear what is being said. People need to take their kids out of here." Seriously, she was annoying me, shifting around in her seat, huffing and puffing, and talking all through the assembly.

About two minutes before the thrown down, the man sitting next to her said something to the effect of "calm down" or "relax". Evidently he was her father as she snipped, "I will NOT be quiet dad. This is ridiculous!"

My blood was beginning to boil. I knew I was going to confront her. I had to leave early to teach Perry's preschool class so I kept eyeing the clock to "see" as much of the assembly as possible before I gave her my two cents and had to leave. Finally, it was time.

I turned around and said, "You do realize that you are at an elementary school program right?"

MB (Mega Beast): "I'm not talking to you so you can turn yourself around."
J: "You aren't talking to me but everyone can sure hear you. You are at an elementary school which involves young kids."
MB: "You can just shut your mouth and turn yourself around."
J: "Do you realize how rude and disrespectful you are being to everyone? You made the lady next to you leave with your comments."
MB: "You are probably just saying that because she is your friend or something."
J: "No, I have no idea who that lady is, but I am sure she is here to watch her child in the program."
MB: "I am done talking to you so you can turn yourself around now."
J: "If the noise is bothering you why don't you go sit somewhere else?"
MB: "I have a seat right here. I'm not moving anywhere."
J: "Look lady, its obvious to me that your are an irritable, bitter person..."
MB: "Yeah, well you're fat."
J: "Well, I'll get right on that for ya. But I got to tell you, when I'm skinny you'll still be a bitch! Have a nice day!"
MB: "And you look butch."
J: "Whatever."

I laughed to myself down the corridor. I couldn't believe she pulled the fat/butch card. I felt like I was arguing with a 10-year old.

I'm proud of myself, whether or not I should be, of letting her have it. She reminds me of our neighbor. She also is a very bitter, negative, crabby person. I've never heard a nice or even neutral word from her mouth. She makes me look like an optimist.

It's sad to think there are people that just hate themselves that much. It was like this woman just hated people, despised humanity. She was rotten through and through. I thought it interesting that her dad never said a word during the exchange. And more interesting that the row of people behind her were smiling while we argued.

So that's my first thrown down. My only regret is that I think she thought she got me to leave. Dang it, it weighs out as a victory for her. Oh well, I still feel real good.

Observations

I came across a piece of paper when I was a mommie of only two little ones. Dated October 11, 2002. Brought back so many fun memories of when the kids were so little.

Cristian - 3 years old. LOVES animals right now especially bugs. He is enjoying Texas with all the rollie pollies and crickets. Has a bearded-dragon (lizard) named Fred. Beginning to sing "songs" of nonsense. Does his "gymnastics" of hopping, twisting, jumping, etc. Beginning to make believe, invent, and fib! Current favorite color is blue, it use to be pink. His best friend is Cora.

Cora - 11 months old. She started walking at 8.5 months. She now runs, dances, and can reverse. She adores Cristian, loves to tackle him. She is right-handed. Loves almost any food -except cottage cheese. She's a total ham - does shakes, claps, folds arms, says "amen" and "bye-bye". Very feisty, strong-willed, independent. Loves to wag her finger, especially at mom, and tell her "no-no mama". She becomes downright adamant at times! Bizarre quirk - she enjoys sucking her shoes. Loves her "cozy" and stuffed animals.

Halloween Rock Stars!

I'm not sure who had more fun...Jen dressing up the kids or the kids during Halloween.

Here is our little rock band.

It's funny how each of the kids kind of fits a role for our little rock band. Cristian would be the guitar playin' shy guy. Cora of course is the diva lead singer. Mason is the crazy drummer with the wild streak. Perry is the back-up singer/dancer.